favorite B/W token cards?
Modern forum
Posted on June 23, 2014, 7:11 p.m. by darkelfplaneswalker
I want to build an orzhov tokens deck like the first deck I ever played, except tournament worthy. Any advice?
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #3
Lingering souls followed by Sorin, Lord of Innistrad is a recipe for tons of damage
June 23, 2014 7:22 p.m.
Lingering Souls Spectral Procession and Raise the Alarm are the best token producers for a b/w token deck.
June 23, 2014 8:11 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
Raise the Alarm seems an interesting choice to list before Gather the Townsfolk . I haven't ever played a token deck that cared about creature type and both provide 2 1/1 white creatures with no evasion, the only difference being if you have 5 or less life Gather the Townsfolk gives you 5 instead.
June 23, 2014 9:43 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #6
ah i forgot Raise the Alarm was instant speed, my mistake.
June 23, 2014 9:43 p.m.
Yeah, instant speed makesRaise the Alarm better. It's a common reaction people have though. I've had to explain why Raise the Alarm is better to several people in the past.
June 23, 2014 9:52 p.m.
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #8
Id say dega tokens is a lot better than normal w/b the access to bolt and helix is so useful
June 23, 2014 11:50 p.m.
AnagonLordofSnakes says... #11
Have you ever played against a optimal dega modern deck? Fetch lands and all it's so brutal.
June 24, 2014 10:07 a.m.
I had a similar discussion recently. Midnight Haunting was mentioned, and was thought to be a close contender for the deck due to the instant speed.
We then realized that the only thing in the deck that you want to leave mana open for is a possible Zealous Persecution ... and even the, it's usually best when attacking.
As such, the instant speed of Midnight Haunting can be ignored, and 3+ CMC spells should only be considered if they produce 3+ tokens. (Lingering Souls being viewed as 4 tokens for 5CMC)
From all of this, I would think that Gather the Townsfolk could work as well as Raise the Alarm .
I would also assume that a W/U (or Esper) tokens deck, if it could be viable, would run Midnight Haunting , as it would want to leave mana open for counters and control, and then produce the tokens if the mana was still available.
Concerning higher CMC (4-5) and non tokens, there is still some debate over a few cards.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
vs. Elspeth, Knight-Errant
vs. Elspeth Tirel
:
- Personally, wasn't sure myself... after making the deck and playing in a few FNM's, I can definitely say that I prefer Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
. When you have him, he essentially lets you choose between an additional Intangible Virtue
, or an additional token and possible life gain.
- Note: I have not tried with Elspeth Tirel
yet... I can certainly see her ultimate being a huge threat, and it can go off the turn after she hits play, so it may be worth considering.
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant
curves well and can keep the pressure on... her ultimate just wins games, but is hard to reach so it can't be relied on.
- Personal opinion... 2x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad , 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant ... 1x Elspeth Tirel in the sideboard for midrange and Zoo decks.
Hero of Bladehold
vs Brimaz, King of Oreskos
:
- Both give a constant flow of tokens, and an additional benefit.
- Brimaz, King of Oreskos
is less expensive at 3 mana, but that conflicts with the mass token creators. His additional benefit is Vigilance for the tokens it creates... this is generally not that powerful (but can be useful) as it is redundant when Intangible Virtue
is out.
- Hero of Bladehold
creates 2 tokens each turn, but only if it attacks... but you'll likely be attacking anyway, since you also give each other attacking creature +1/+0.
- Personal Opinion... It depends on your Meta. Faster creature decks (Afinity, Zoo, Merfolk, etc) get a bit of an advantage by getting out Brimaz, King of Oreskos as you will want a block option, and tokens that come with it... Hero of Bladehold is good against decks you can (or need to be) be slightly more aggressive with (U/W Control, Jund Midrange, Splintertwin)... best to keep 2x of one main, and 2x of the other in your sideboard.
A key factor to B/W tokens is hand disruption... this is often overlooked by players new to the deck. Often they will take out disruption in favour of Anthems and token generators. - This is a bad idea. You need to spend the first few turns ensuring that your opponents threats are mitigated. Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek are important... Tidehollow Sculler is often debated. DON'T DEBATE THIS!!! This card should remain in... it's hand disruption and a body rolled into one.
Using disruption allows you to be proactive to throe threats, lets you know what is coming, and makes you rely less on removal (Path to Exile becomes the only removal needed, removing the need for more expensive removal spells).
June 24, 2014 11:10 a.m.
Well said Rayenous. Haha I haven't gone that in depth about the archetype in forever and I've played b/w tokens for over a year! I personally have found Elspeth, Knight-Errant to be better than Sorin, Lord of Innistrad though. How is your token deck performing?
June 24, 2014 2:07 p.m.
plebeianglenn says... #14
The new Modern Event Deck is a decent place to start and includes a lot of the cards already mentioned here. I'd personally swap in a playset of the shocklands and swap out some of the other mediocre cards, but on the whole the deck isn't half bad and might be a good base for you to build upon.
Also, the MSRP is around $75 but the cards are easily worth over $100 combined.
June 24, 2014 8:45 p.m.
NotSoLuckyLydia says... #15
The nice thing about Elspeth, Knight-Errant is that resolving her leaves you with a very powerful engine that can win you some matchups on its own.
smackjack says... #2
Lingering Souls and thats pretty much it..
June 23, 2014 7:16 p.m.